ONLOOKERS

Named one of “The Best Documentaries of 2024” by The New York Times | HONORABLE MENTION, BREAKOUT FEATURES - Slamdance Film Festival | “I also loved ONLOOKERS, Kimi Takesue’s unusual film about tourism in Laos…here we are as viewers, watching people be watched. So who is the real onlooker?”- Alissa Wilkinson, THE NEW YORK TIMES Tourism / Tourism Studies • Travel • Anthropology • Ethnographic Filmmaking • Globalization • Sustainability • Immersive Sensory Ethnography • Politics of “Slowing Down” • Laos • Cross-Cultural Encounters • Buddhist Studies • Cultural Studies • Sociology • Spectatorship Date of Completion: 2023 | Run Time: 72 minutes | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Director: Kimi Takesue | Producer: Kimi Takesue | Co-Producers: Richard Beenen & Sophie Luo | Camera and Editing: Kimi Takesue | Consulting Producers: Karin Chien & Sara Archambault Named one of the Best Documentaries of 2024 by The New York Times, Kimi Takesue’s ONLOOKERS offers a visually striking, immersive meditation on travel and tourism in Laos, reflecting on how we all live as observers. With wit and a gentle eye for social critique, ONLOOKERS observes Western backpackers and tour groups from East Asia descending upon Laos, a small country in Southeast Asia economically dependent on international tourism. Once the most heavily bombed country in the world during the Vietnam War, Laos is now a cheap destination for international travelers. The film tracks the intricate choreography of travel, and the power imbalances at play, as tourists and locals intermingle, vie for space, and move on parallel tracks without contact, oblivious to one another. Compelling questions animate the film: What is the difference between a tourist and a traveler? Between participant and onlooker? Where does curiosity cross into intrusion? What activities give our lives meaning? How does a place become a commodity? Is sustainable, respectful cross-cultural travel even possible? How much of tourist life involves waiting: arrivals and departures, boredom and cellphones? And why, finally, do we travel? What are we looking for?